Monday, April 28, 2014

Well sorry, I don't really have time to write today. We have a lot to get together for moves this week. We have new missionaries coming in tomorrow, moves on wednesday, mission leadership council on friday and a whole lot of other stuff in between. I have to buy some more flights before I go out to work for the night. So ya.... but I will attach my journal again. I think it will probably do a better job of me trying to write a real email.

I am loving working here though. President Evans was in Germany last week for a mission president seminar. He said that President Texiera and President Evans (of the Seventy) both talked a ton about the importance of assistants in the mission. So needless to say, I am feeling the pressure. Elder Wh and I are loving the work though. We are growing a ton though, and loving every second of it!

(From a second email)

I got the package! The new pants fit pretty good! The old ones were pretty dang big, but those were the ones I was looking for, which means I have changed a ton on the mission haha. I couldn't fit in those when I left!

I love the seeds and cookies. that was just what I needed! [They don't have sunflower seeds in Norway]

Monday, April 21, 2014

Hey there!

Happy Easter! It was definitely a memorable one here! We had just miracle after miracle this week!

I will try and answer your questions here before I tell about the week. The first week was insane. I have never worked so hard, nor gotten so much done in a week before. I am afraid that this week is going to get busier and better!

Elder Wh is from Alpine, Utah. He came out 5 months before me, so he goes home in July. He went to Lonepeak and graduated the same year as me. Needless to say, we are working great together and having a blast.

I would love to describe a typical day here, but that is just not possible. It is never the same. We are in and out of the office all the time, driving all over the place and cramming in our missionary work whenever we can. So there really is no pattern. it is to the point that most of the studies get ruined everyday. But I have started keeping my journal on a word doc, so maybe you can read that and get a better idea of what it is like.

I will try and share some quick stories or lessons that I have learned this week. The week started off really intense. We had a hard week in the mission the week before and we knew we had to turn it around. It was easter though! In Norway that means that every single person in the country leaves there normal home and goes on vacations. You drive the streets and you feel like you are in a ghost town. With this in mind we knew that we could show faith and try really hard. That is what we did!

We knocked a ton of doors, went on splits with the zone leaders, the district leaders and got our office work done as fast as we could. This lead to miracles everyday! We literally taught every single day of the week. We found families that were home, even through the holiday, and really had the best week the assistants have had the whole year! I would try and describe it better but that would be really difficult.

So at the end of the week I have learned some huge spiritual lessons. I have learned to expect miracles. I no longer have to hope that the Lord will provide us something, but I know that He will. He has done it countless times this week. I have learned that He will support me in my calling. I went on splits with missionaries that were older and more experienced than me, missionaries that I didn't feel I could really help, but as I did so the Lord magnified me such that I could help them and their areas! I have learned what it means to really be consecrated, that it does not matter where you have been, but rather what you are becoming.

There were many more lessons to be learned and shared, but I don't have time to share really. We have to run to Oslo to help the sisters there today. We have to then get back and do more stuff here before appointments that we have tonight.

This week will be filled with buying plane tickets for moves next week. Elder Wh and I have a lot to do. On top of that we have a couple of investigators with baptismal dates and others that should have them. So we have to make sure these people get into the water!

Monday, April 14, 2014

It sounds like it was a huge week back at home! Tons of mission calls and other stuff going on! I can't believe that everyone is going out! That was awesome to hear, send them my congrats!

Things the past week have been pretty exciting here too. My week in Oslo was packed with lots of stuff. Elder W and I did our last zone leader training together. We tried hard to include Easter into the theme but it was hard. The best we could do was to have our missionaries go on an easter egg hunt to find their ''investigators'' The meeting turned out good though in the end. I am happy to say that I am done giving those meeting though.

After that we had a Mission wide leadership training where all the district leader and zone leaders came in to oslo for a meeting. So that was a five hour long meeting on Wednesday. It was awesome to see Elder E and many others as everyone came in.

In between all of these meetings Elder W and I had some time to teach the investigators and try and make it so we had some stuff happening in our area. There wasn't anything too exciting to report though.

Church came on Sunday and we had a fast sunday. There was good meetings and we had lots of investigators there in Church. So it was a good way to leave I guess. After church though I went home, got my bags, and headed off to Sandvika (a short 7 minute train ride away).

We had a ''burny'' dinner with Elder L and Elder and Sister B. They all would leave the following day to return home to the states. It was an awesome dinner. We had turkey and mashed potatoes and lots of other stuff. I was definitely spoiled by Sister Evans. It was also a great way to end the fast sunday!

Which brings us to today. Elder Wh and I are now companions. We live in Sandvika and work in the office here. Today has been pretty busy already with us doing a lot of work and trying to get lots of different stuff done. So I can tell already that it will be a huge change in pace. I am way excited for it though! I am excited to get to work with president and the office couple here and to learn a lot from all of these people!

My new address is Bærumsveien 198, 1357 Bekkestua, Norway. President told me that I will get to go back out and be a normal missionary again before I leave, so that will be nice! Like I said the pace will be different, but I am definitely excited for this. I know that I will learn so much about leadership and about how to help people by being here around President. I might even get to do a little missionary work too!

So ya, life is crazy now. We have lots to do today, so I got to get going! But thanks so much for all that you do!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Dang, that kid cannot be 3 already! I remember when he was born, that was just like a month ago! Time goes way too fast.

I think I am going to take questions first. Yes, we got to watch conference! We watched it at the center with all of the YSA. It was really awesome. I will talk more about that later though. Unfortunately no, I haven't gotten to work with my essays yet. Things have been super busy! However I am going to start on them this week, I hope. I have thought about a major, and I was actually thinking about political science. That is not set in stone as of yet though. If I were to do english I think I would choose an emphasis on reading. I love learning and getting more knowledge. We shall see though. And yep, I am still speaking dialect! It is harder than it was in Trondheim but a member gave me a Trøndersk dialect book which is helping me keep it up though!

But ya, my week. This one has been a crazy one that is for sure. We had a lot happening this week. Meetings, baptisms, splits, and much more. But I guess I can just start from the beginning I guess.

On Wednesday we had mission leadership conference. Elder W and I got there pretty early, so we got to sit down and enjoy some of Sister Evans' cinnamon rolls before everyone else got there. But before the meeting started President called me into his office to talk to me. The rest of the meeting went pretty good, but I had a hard time concentrating.

After that meeting, I came back to Oslo alone. Elder W went on splits in Drammen to witness a baptism. I worked with Elders S and D. That was pretty fun. We got a lot done and were pretty busy. It was only for that Thursday, Elder W returned home that night.

Finally we had General conference! That was absolutely amazing! There were definitey some surprises though. I was shocked that it was Tad R. Callister that was called as the Sunday school president, he will do a good job though. The talks were all awesome. Elder Bednar's talk was amazing. Other favorites were President Packer (I think that was his last talk, it reminded me of Mckonkies last one), Elder Holland, and Elder Oaks. Elder Oaks is probably the winner though. He just gave such a great defintion of the priesthood and how gods power and authority is a part of all of our lives.

I have a lot of studying to do after conference!

Sunday was especially good though because we got to teach too. We got to meet again with J H, after a 3 month break. It was a great teach and culminated in another batpismal date! So that was the greatest ways to end the week. It was something we needed really bad.

I am just loving it here so much! I can't really describe the feelings that come from serving a mission! I just love it. I look forward to the experiences ahead. It should be pretty crazy. I am way excited though!

Jeg elsker deg!

Eldste JonesP.S. I loved my p-day last week. I am totally playing tennis when I come home.

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ELDSTE JONES MISSIONARY SCRIPTURE

"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." Alma 29:9